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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The recent leadership crisis at the University of Virginia, perceived as moving too slowly on digital progress, turned out to be faulty. The University just announced that it will be moving to online learning on a global scale.

Online instruction is not new to college students. One technique, known as “flipping,” in which students view recorded lectures as homework, allows use of class time for discussion and problem solving. In “computer mediated instruction,” students complete self-paced lessons.

While online instruction has burgeoned, the nation’s “top universities” have not embraced digital learning for core or graduate programs. Now, U-Va. will join Coursera, which offers free online courses “to the masses.” Without credit and at no charge, 680,000 people from 190 countries have participated.

This move puts U-Va. in partnership with Stanford, Harvard and MIT and a campus-wide challenge in which professors can get grants of $10,000 to develop “technology enhanced courses,” could see significant changes at the University.